Sunday, August 22, 2010

Good morning...and don't let the bed bugs bite.

Have you seen the news about New York City having a bed bug infestation? How weird is that? There are several office buildings in the city that have had to have multiple exterminator visits (no, not by Arnold Schwarzenegger – real exterminators). Some have infestations in just a few cubicles, some on entire floors and some in the entire building. I don’t know about you, but this is very puzzling to me.

Do these little pests not read entomology journals? What part of “bed” do they not understand? Is there some kind of invasion of the body snatchers going on here? Maybe they were taken over by alien insects that never go to bed at night. I mean if we expected them to show up at our work places wouldn’t we have called them office bugs?

I’m all for every one of God’s creatures having a chance to make a living. We’re prepared to do battle with them in  our bedchambers so it’s kind of a fair fight.  I mean, if we’re crazy enough to lie around in a state of semi-consciousness for 8 hours where a known predator can have its way with us, that’s one thing. But we don’t sleep at the office. Well, most of us don’t anyway.

If you're thinking about looking bed bugs up on the internet now, you don’t want to go there. Seeing blown up pictures of these microscopic Freddy Kruegers is not going to help you sleep at night. Suffice it to say there are 5 nymph stages until a bed bug becomes an adult. Each of those stages produces a voracious appetite that makes the little fella want to intensely ravish the nearest blood vessel . And the adult is about the most patient thing on the planet. They can go up to a year without eating. But when it’s chow time you’re a walking smorgasbord.

OK. That's more than you wanted to know. Just thought you might want to rethink that weekend shopping trip to the Big Apple, especially since they are equally at home in your luggage. They'd hop a ride with you in a New York minute.